XI.
Wealden Life and Character.
(Golden Hours, 1874.)
That the South Saxon nature is a deeply religious one all we know of the people now and of the history of their forefathers tends to convince us. We see, moreover, in its manifestation from the earliest times to the present day a proof that the primal elements of character in a race, as in an individual, remain the same under every possible change of circumstance. The first we know of the South Saxon religiously is that he was a worshipper of Odin, "the terrible and severe god, the father of slaughter, the god that carries desolation and fire, the active and roaring deity, he who gives victory and revives courage in conflict, who names those that are to be slain." With the worship of Odin was associated in course of time that of Frigga, or Frea, his wife, the goddess of love, of pleasure, and sensuality. The most distinguishing feature of this primitive religion was its fatalism. Three Fates predestined the general career of men, while each individual had a special Fate who attended on him, controlled his life, and determined his end. In contests and fights an additional species of Fates called Valkeries, the direct emissaries of Odin, were employed to select the warriors who were to fall, and to be at once translated to Valhalla. In Valhalla they fought all day, and sat down at night to feast on the never-ending flesh of the boar Scrimner, washed down by deep draughts of mead drunk from the skulls of their enemies. To Niflheim were doomed all the poor in spirit, all who were not gifted with, or had not been able to attain to, a habit of self-confidence. Over its miseries Hela reigned
